Methods and systems for creating and managing multi participant sessions

ABSTRACT

A method of creating a multi participant session among a plurality of viewers of media content. The method comprises automatically identifying which media content is currently presented on a plurality of client terminals of a plurality of subscribers, receiving, from a first subscriber, a first selection indicative of a template of a multi participant session object and a second selection indicative of a group from the plurality of subscribers, creating a multi participant session object adapted for simultaneous presentation with the media content according to first and second selections and establishing a multi participant session among at least one member of the group and the first subscriber using the multi participant session object.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/239,152 filed on Feb. 17, 2014, which is a National Phase of PCTPatent Application No. PCT/IB2012/054016 having International filingdate of Aug. 6, 2012, which claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC§119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 61/559,166 filed onNov. 14, 2011, 61/538,876 filed on Sep. 25, 2011 and 61/523,413 filed onAug. 15, 2011. The contents of the above applications are allincorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein in theirentirety.

FIELD AND BACKGROUND

The present disclosure, in some embodiments thereof, relates to methodsand systems of communication and, more particularly, but notexclusively, to methods and systems for enabling and enrichingcommunication between television viewers, for example, through thecreation of multi participant sessions, interactive contentpresentation, and video chat.

People socialize within a shared social space. Often this socializationoccurs in the context of listening to music, watching a televisionprogram, or watching a movie within the home. The fellowship engenderedby this experience changes when some of the members of the social groupmove away or otherwise become remote from the heart of the group.

During the last few years, various developments have been made toprovide television (TV) services that socially connect between usersthat watch a common video content in different location. For example,services have recently been proposed in which users can store, share anddiscover bookmarks that point to multimedia clips taken from televisionand other video programming. The bookmarks, which can be created andshared through a user's set top box or other client device, areanalogous to web-based social bookmarks that are offered by on-lineservices such as del.icio.us, for example. Such social TV services allowusers to share clips from programs with friends and tag bookmarks foreasy access. Users gain information on what friends are interested inand the producers of the tagged or bookmarked programs gain informationabout their viewers.

Another example is Chatter application program of Splashcast™ and Hulu™that allows social network users to add comments to video content whichis available at Hulu's website. This program allows social network usersto comment about a show via micro comments which are synced to a videofile or a stream. In this program user micro comments can be seen byfuture users that will access the video file or stream.

Another solution is described m U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0280638that teaches a system (such as an extension to a social televisionsystem) that extracts and stores content and/or commentary from anexperiential data stream as a presentation for later playback. Thepresentation can be given to another to share the experience of viewingthe experiential data stream with the creator of the presentation. Thepresentation can be read and processed by any standard playback device(such as a DVD player, an MP3 player, a tape player etc.). Thepresentation is predefined and constrained to enable it to be used bycommonly used playback devices. In the context of a social televisionsystem the disclosed technology provides a way for people to interactnaturally while watching a TV program and to share their reactionsasynchronously, and later obtaining responses in context from peoplewatching at different times.

Interactive television (TV) has already been deployed in various forms.The electronic program guide (EPG) is one example, where the TV vieweris able to use the remote control to control the display of programminginformation such as TV show start times and duration, as well as briefsynopses of TV shows. The viewer can navigate around the EPG, sortingthe listings, or selecting a specific show or genre of shows to watch ortune to at a later time.

Another example is the WebTV interactive system produced by Microsoft,wherein web links, information about the show or story, shopping links,and so on are transmitted to the client terminal through the verticalblanking interval of the TV signal. Other examples of interactive TVinclude television delivered via the internet protocol (IP) to apersonal computer (PC), where true interactivity can be provided, buttypically only a subset of full interactivity is implemented. For thepurposes of this patent application, full interactivity is defined asfully customizable screens and options that are integrated with theoriginal television display, with interactive content being updated onthe fly based on viewer preferences, demographics, other similarviewer's interactions, and the programming content being viewed. Theuser interface for such a fully interactive system should also becompletely flexible and customizable.

During the last years various technologies for the reception andtransmission of audio-video signals by users at different locations, forcommunication between people in real-time have been developed.

These technologies have been integrated into various operating systemsand browsers for usage on different client terminals, such as cellularphones, tablets, laptops, and Internet Protocol television (IPTV).

For example, U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2011/0173300 describestechniques for a protocol that provides for a TV viewing experience withinteraction by allowing for social collaboration of non-co-located TVviewers and integrating the TV viewing experience with social networkingconcepts and interactive multimedia communication. The protocol enablesa digital video distribution system (e.g., IPTV) to provide a user withpresence, channel, and grouping information regarding other users in theIPTV system and available video content. The protocol also enables usersof the IPTV system to interact using real-time and/or non-real timecommunication.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there isprovided a method of creating a multi participant session among aplurality of viewers of media content. The method comprisesautomatically identifying which media content is currently presented ona plurality of client terminals of a plurality of subscribers,receiving, from a first of the plurality of subscribers, a firstselection indicative of a template of a multi participant session objectand a second selection indicative of a group from the plurality ofsubscribers, creating a multi participant session object adapted forsimultaneous presentation with the media content according to the firstand second selections, and establishing a multi participant sessionamong at least one member of the group and the first subscriber usingthe multi participant session object.

Optionally, the method further comprises forwarding a message indicativeof the media content to a social network provider to update a respectiveuser profile accordingly.

Optionally, the establishing comprises generating an interactive userinterface according to the multi participant session object andselecting at least some of the plurality of client terminals to presentthe interactive user interface.

Optionally, the method further comprises forwarding the interactive userinterface to a remote controlling device via one of the plurality ofclient terminals and presenting the interactive user interface on adisplay of the remote controlling device.

Optionally, the method further comprises updating the multi participantsession object according to a plurality of user inputs from the at leastsome client terminals.

Optionally, the method further comprises generating a plurality ofinteractive user interfaces, each designated to another of the pluralityof subscribers, according to the multi participant session object andforwarding each the interactive user interface to another of a pluralityof remote controlling devices via one of the plurality of clientterminals to present the plurality of interactive user interfaces ondisplays of the plurality of remote controlling devices simultaneously.

Optionally, the creating comprises sending to each member of the groupan invitation to watch the media content in parallel to a participationin the multi participant session.

Optionally, the method further comprises presenting a plurality oftemplates of multi participant session objects to the first subscriberto facilitate the first selection; wherein the plurality of templatesare selected from a template repository.

Optionally, the method further comprises updating the templaterepository with a new template based on the multi participant sessionobject.

More optionally, the plurality of templates are selected according to atleast one characteristic of the first subscriber.

More optionally, the plurality of templates are selected according to atleast one characteristic of at least one member of the group.

More optionally, the plurality of templates are selected according to atleast one characteristic of at least one subscriber of the plurality ofsubscribers which is socially connected to the first subscriber.

Optionally, the method further comprises automatically generating atleast some of the plurality of templates according an analysis of atleast one electronic program guides (EPG).

More optionally, the plurality of templates are selected according to atleast one characteristic of the media content.

Optionally, the multi participant session is a social interactiveactivity selected from a group consisting of a poll, a chat, a game, agambling mechanism, a quiz.

More optionally, the creating comprises receiving user content from thesubscriber and creating the multi participant session object so as topresent the user content on the interactive user interface as at leastone of a question, a bid, and a set of possible answers to a question.

Optionally, the creating comprises identifying at least onecharacteristic of the media content and creating the multi participantsession object to match the media content.

Optionally, the creating comprises identifying at least onecharacteristic of a member of the group and creating the multiparticipant session according to the at least one characteristic.

Optionally, the method further comprises identifying at least one of theplurality of subscribers which is socially connected to the firstsubscriber and presenting the at least one subscriber to the firstsubscriber to facilitate the second selection.

Optionally, the media content is a broadcast presented on the at leastsome client terminals.

Optionally, the media content is video on demand (VOD) content selectedby the first subscriber.

Optionally, the media content is locally stored on a respective aidclient terminal or a memory device connected thereto.

Optionally, the method further comprises capturing a plurality of imagesof each member of the group and of the first subscriber during the multiparticipant session, the updating comprises presenting the plurality ofimages using a respective the interactive user interface on theplurality of client terminals.

More optionally, the updating comprises presenting promotional contentusing a respective the interactive user interface on the plurality ofclient terminals.

More optionally, the method further comprises selecting the promotionalcontent based on analysis of a member from a group consisting of thenumber of members in the group, a characteristic of the media content,and a characteristic of at least one member of the group.

More optionally, the method further comprises selecting the promotionalcontent according to a combination of characteristics of a plurality ofmembers of the group.

Optionally, the method further comprises receiving, from the firstsubscriber, a request to fund at least one right to access the mediacontent and billing the first subscriber for a usage of the at least oneright to access the media content by at least one member of the group.

Optionally, the method further comprises establishing a plurality of submulti participant session subscribers among sub groups of the group.

According to other embodiments of the disclosure a method is taught forselecting at least one interactive application for presentation. Themethod may comprise: identifying a plurality of interactive applicationswhich are available for presentation on a client terminal of a user;automatically identifying a media content item being currently presentedon the client terminal; automatically identifying at least one mediacontent characteristic of the media content; selecting a group of theplurality of interactive applications which are tagged as suitable formedia content having the at least one media content characteristic; andpresenting members of the group on a display of the client terminal inrelation to the media content item.

Optionally, the plurality of interactive applications are locally storedon the client terminal.

Optionally, the plurality of interactive applications comprises a recorddefining at least one suitable media content characteristic.

Optionally, at least one media content characteristic comprises at leastone member of a group consisting of: a genre, a length, a rating, an agerating, a language, an origin country, a production source, a productiondate, indirect advertising content and/or the like.

Optionally, the automatically identifying at least one contentcharacteristic comprises acquiring the at least one contentcharacteristic via a network from a database storing a plurality ofmedia content records each having a respective the at least one contentcharacteristic.

Optionally, the media content item is a broadcasted content, theautomatically identifying a media content item comprises detecting acurrently presented channel on the client terminal and analyzing atleast one electronic program guide (EPG) to identify currently airedmedia content on the currently presented channel.

Optionally, the media content item is a video on demand (VOD) item, theautomatically identifying a media content item comprises detectingrequesting the at least one media content characteristic from the sourceof the VOD item.

Optionally, automatically identifying a media content item comprisesidentifying a currently presented scene of the media content item;wherein the automatically identifying at least one media contentcharacteristic of the media comprises automatically identifying at leastone scene characteristic; wherein members of the group are tagged assuitable for a scene having the at least one scene characteristic andthe presenting being performed in relation to the scene.

Optionally, each the plurality of interactive applications is associatedwith at least one suitable media content characteristic; the selectingcomprises matching between the at least one suitable media contentcharacteristic of at least some of the plurality of interactiveapplications and the at least one media content characteristic.

Optionally, the selecting comprises matching the at least one mediacontent characteristic with records of a dataset documenting at leastone suitable media content characteristic per each the interactiveapplication.

Optionally the method further comprises allowing a plurality of users toperform at least one of tagging the plurality of interactiveapplications and updating a database storing a plurality of mediacontent records about a plurality of media content items.

Optionally, the selecting comprises identifying which media content itemis currently watched by at least one friend of the user and selectingthe group according thereto.

Optionally the method further comprises automatically identifying a newmedia content item that is currently presented on the client terminal,automatically identifying at least one new media content characteristicof the new media content, selecting a new group of the plurality ofinteractive applications which are tagged as suitable for media contenthaving the at least one new media content characteristic, and presentingmembers of the new group on a display of the client terminal in relationto the new media content item.

Optionally the method further comprises detecting at least one currentviewing pattern on the client terminal and selecting an additional groupof the plurality of interactive applications which are tagged assuitable for the viewing pattern; wherein the presenting comprisespresenting members of the additional group on the display.

Optionally, the at least one current viewing pattern is selected from agroup consisting of: the period the user watches the media content item,at least one additional media content previously watched by the user, afrequency of recent zapping by the user, a volume level at which themedia content item being played, a display setting at which the mediacontent item being played, and current time.

Optionally, the plurality of interactive applications are stored on theclient terminal.

Optionally, the plurality of interactive applications are stored on aremote terminal.

Optionally, the plurality of interactive applications include commercialapplications which contain a commercial content.

Another aspect of the disclosure is to present a computer readablemedium comprising computer executable instructions adapted to perform amethod such as described herein.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, a system isintroduced for selecting at least one interactive application forpresentation. The system may comprise a database of a plurality of mediacontent records each indicative of at least one media contentcharacteristic of one of a plurality of media content items; a centralunit which receives a request with an identifier of media contentpresented by a client terminal and forwards respective the at least onemedia content characteristic from the plurality of media content recordsin response to the request; a client module hosted by the clientterminal and manages a plurality of applications which are available foruse on the client terminal, the client module receives the at least onemedia content characteristic, selects accordingly a group from theplurality of applications, and presents the group to a user of theclient terminal.

Optionally, the system further comprises an updating module whichanalyzes a plurality of web pages to extract respective the at least onemedia content characteristic for at least one of updating the pluralityof media content records and adding a plurality of new media contentrecords.

Still another aspect of the disclosure is to teach a method of selectingat least one interactive application for presentation, comprising:identifying a plurality of interactive applications which are availablefor presentation on a client terminal of a user; extracting metadata ofa media content item currently presented on the client terminal, themetadata comprises at least one media content characteristic of themedia content; and selecting a group of the plurality of interactiveapplications which are tagged as suitable for media content having theat least one media content characteristic by using the metadata; andpresenting members of the group on a display of the client terminal inrelation to the media content item.

Another method is taught for selecting at least one interactiveapplication for presentation, comprising: a) identifying a plurality ofinteractive applications which are available for presentation on aclient terminal of a user; b) automatically identifying one of aplurality of scenes of a media content item currently presented on theclient terminal; c) automatically identifying at least one scenecharacteristic of the currently presented scene; d) selecting a group ofthe plurality of interactive applications which are tagged as suitablefor a scene having the at least one scene characteristic; and e)presenting members of the group on a display of the client terminal inrelation to the scene; and repeating the b)-e) for each one of theplurality of scenes.

Still another method is taught for selecting at least one interactiveapplication for presentation, comprising: identifying a plurality ofinteractive applications which are available for presentation on aclient terminal of a user; automatically identifying at least onecurrent viewing pattern of the user; selecting a group of the pluralityof interactive applications which are tagged as suitable for the atleast one current viewing pattern; and presenting members of the groupon a display of the client terminal.

Optionally, the at least one current viewing pattern is selected from agroup consisting of: the period the user watches a media content itemcurrently presented on the client terminal, at least one media contentpreviously watched by the user, a frequency of recent zapping on theclient terminal, a volume level at which the media content item beingplayed on the client terminal, a display setting at which the mediacontent item being played on the client terminal, and a current time.

According to other embodiments of the present disclosure, there isprovided a method for managing a multi participant video session. Themethod comprises establishing a multi participant video session betweena plurality of participants of a plurality of camera enabled clientterminals which are connected to a network, monitoring a participationlevel of each one of the plurality of participants in the multiparticipant video session, and automatically halting the multiparticipant video session if respective the participation level of oneof the plurality of participants is below a minimum.

Optionally, the method further comprises identifying media contentcurrently displayed on at least one of the plurality of camera enabledclient terminals and adjusting accordingly at least one of the minimumand the monitoring.

Optionally, the method further comprises identifying social connectionbetween the plurality of participants and adjusting accordingly at leastone of the minimum and the monitoring.

Optionally, the method further comprises identifying a characteristic ofat least one of the plurality of participants and adjusting accordinglyat least one of the minimum and the monitoring.

Optionally, the method further comprises identifying an operation actionpertaining to a display of media content on at least one of theplurality of camera enabled client terminals and adjusting accordinglyat least one of the minimum and the monitoring.

Optionally, the monitoring comprises capturing a plurality of imagesequences each using the camera of another the camera enabled clientterminal and analyzing each the plurality of image sequences to estimatea respective the participation level.

More optionally, the analyzing comprises detecting at least one ofpresence and absence of a face of a respective the participant in therespective image sequence, the detecting being performed according to atleast one reference facial feature associated with the respectiveparticipant.

More optionally, the analyzing comprises detecting at least one ofpresence and absence of a face gazing at a display of a respective thecamera enabled client terminal.

More optionally, the analyzing comprises detecting at least one ofpresence and absence of any face in the respective image sequence.

Optionally, the halting comprises terminating the multi participantvideo session.

Optionally, the halting comprises displaying an interactive notice whichis indicative of the halting and allowing at least one of the pluralityof participants to manually instruct the resuming of the multiparticipant video session.

Optionally, the method further comprises proceeding with the monitoringduring the halting and automatically resuming the multi participantvideo session if respective the participation level of each one of theplurality of participants is above the minimum.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there isprovided a system for managing a multi participant video session. Thesystem comprises a central unit which establishes a multi participantvideo session between a plurality of participants of a plurality ofcamera enabled client terminals which are connected to a network and aplurality of client modules each installed in another of the pluralityof camera enabled client terminals and monitors a participation levelone of the plurality of participants in the multi participant videosession. The central unit automatically terminating the multiparticipant video session if it receives from one of the plurality ofclient modules a message which is indicative that respective theparticipation level of one of the plurality of participants is below aminimum.

Optionally, the plurality of camera enabled client terminals areselected from a group consisting of: Internet Protocol televisions(IPTVs), set top boxes, mobile communication devices, telephones,tablets, computers and the like.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there isprovided a method for establishing a multi participant video session.The method comprises receiving a request to establish a multiparticipant video session between a plurality of participants of aplurality of camera enabled client terminals which are connected to anetwork, delaying the initiation of the multi participant video sessionuntil a presence indication indicative of a presence of one of theplurality of participants in a space imaged by a respective the cameraenabled client terminal is received from each one of the plurality ofcamera enabled client terminals, and establishing the multi participantvideo session between the plurality of participants via the plurality ofcamera enabled client terminals when the delaying is over.

Optionally, the delaying further comprises: capturing a plurality ofimage sequences, each using another of the plurality of camera enabledclient terminals, analyzing each the image sequence to automaticallydetect the presence of one of the plurality of participants, and ceasingthe delaying when the presence of one of each one of the plurality ofparticipants is detected according to the analysis.

Optionally, the analyzing comprises identifying a face of a respectivethe participant in a respective the image sequence to detect thepresence thereof a space imaged by a respective the camera enabledclient terminal.

More optionally, the delaying further comprises: maintaining thedelaying as long as an absence of a face of a respective the participantin identified in a respective the image sequence.

Optionally, the presence indication is generated manually by aparticipant selection.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and/or scientific terms usedherein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art to which the disclosure pertains. Although methods andmaterials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used inthe practice or testing of embodiments of the disclosure, exemplarymethods and/or materials are described below. In case of conflict, thepatent specification, including definitions, will control. In addition,the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and are notintended to be necessarily limiting.

Implementation of the method and/or system of embodiments of thedisclosure can involve performing or completing selected tasks manually,automatically, or a combination thereof. Moreover, according to actualinstrumentation and equipment of embodiments of the method and/or systemof the disclosure, several selected tasks could be implemented byhardware, by software or by firmware or by a combination thereof usingan operating system.

For example, hardware for performing selected tasks according toembodiments of the disclosure could be implemented as a chip or acircuit. As software, selected tasks according to embodiments of thedisclosure could be implemented as a plurality of software instructionsbeing executed by a computer using any suitable operating system. In anexemplary embodiment of the disclosure, one or more tasks according toexemplary embodiments of method and/or system as described herein areperformed by a data processor, such as a computing platform forexecuting a plurality of instructions. Optionally, the data processorincludes a volatile memory for storing instructions and/or data and/or anon-volatile storage, for example, a magnetic hard-disk and/or removablemedia, for storing instructions and/or data. Optionally, a networkconnection is provided as well. A display and/or a user input devicesuch as a keyboard or mouse are optionally provided as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some embodiments of the disclosure are herein described, by way ofexample only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specificreference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that theparticulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrativediscussion of embodiments of the disclosure. In this regard, thedescription taken with the drawings makes apparent to those skilled inthe art how embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a system for creating and managinga multi participant session among viewers of common media content, andfor dynamically selecting interactive applications from a plurality ofinteractive applications which are made available to user(s) of a clientterminal, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 2A-2D are images of a broadcasted media content with differentoverlays of multi participant session interactive windows, according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method of creating a multi participantsession among a plurality of viewers that watch common media content,according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method of selecting and/or filteringinteractive applications, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a method of dynamically selecting one or more interactiveapplications adapted for a media content scene which currently presentedand/or selected to be presented, according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure; and

FIG. 6 is a method of dynamically selecting one or more of theinteractive applications which are made available to user(s) of a clientterminal based on current viewing pattern characteristics, according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of a system for establishing and/ormanaging a multi participant video session among participants who usecamera enhanced remote client terminals, according to some embodimentsof the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for establishing a multi participantvideo session, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a method for managing a multi participant videosession, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure, in some embodiments thereof, relates to methodsand systems of communication and, more particularly, but notexclusively, to a methods and systems of communication betweentelevision viewers.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure there areprovided methods and systems of creating a multi participant sessionamong a plurality of viewers of common media content based on a multiparticipant session object created by one of the viewers, optionallybased on a selected template. These embodiments allow a user, referredto herein as a session initiator, or a module, to select and adjust atemplate of a multi participant session, such as a multi participantgame, a poll, and a custom made gamble. Such a user adapted multiparticipant session may be custom made, either manually orautomatically, to a certain media content, for example to characters ina reality TV show, characteristics of a certain group of viewers,optionally socially connected, or any member thereof and/or sessioninitiator preferences.

Optionally, the system includes a central unit which manages the multiparticipant sessions and a plurality of client modules which areinstalled in client terminals, such as set top boxes, designated devisesand/or television sets, for example as described above. The central unitoptionally manages a database of subscribers, optionally sociallyconnected, and a set of templates, optionally dynamically updated bysubscribers and/or system operator(s). In use, the central unit receivesmedia content indication indicative of media content currently presentedon the client terminal of the session initiator. The central unitfurther receives a selection indicative of a template of a multiparticipant session object and another selection indicative of a groupfrom the subscribers, for example friends of the session initiator. Thisallows creating a multi participant session object that is adapted forthe selected group according to the template and using the multiparticipant session object to establish a multi participant sessionpertaining to the media content among member(s) of the group and thesession initiator.

Optionally, the template is selected by the session initiator from adynamic set of templates. The template or the dynamic set of templatesmay be updated according to the session initiator, the members of theselected group, one or more characteristics of the common media content,and/or the airtime left for a broadcasted media content.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a participantof a multi participant session may watch audio and/or video feeds whichare captured by client terminals of other participants of the multiparticipant session. In such a manner, the experience of watching thecommon media content for one participant is enhanced by the inputs ofother participants. In such embodiments, audio and/or video chats may beestablished among sub groups of multi participant session participants,for example as described below.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, promotionalcontent is presented to participants of the multi participant session.The promotional content may be designated for a group, for example basedon a combination of characteristics of a number of participants and/orincludes offers for a group purchase, for example as described below.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the disclosure in detail,it is to be understood that the disclosure is not necessarily limited inits application to the details of construction and the arrangement ofthe components and/or methods set forth in the following descriptionand/or illustrated in the drawings and/or the Examples. The disclosureis capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out invarious ways.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which is a schematic illustration of asystem for creating and managing a multi participant session amongviewers of common media content, such as a broadcasted content, video ondemand (VOD) content, locally stored content, recorded content, and/or astream, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Themedia content may be a movie, a TV show, promotional content, a series,and/or the like. The viewers may be referred to herein as participants.The multi participant session may be a poll, a chat, a game, a gamblingmechanism, and/or a quiz, such as a trivia quiz that is selected and/orgenerated according to the inputs of one of the viewers, for example theinitiator of the multi participant session, as described below.

The multi participant sessions, as further described below, may beimplemented using multi participant session objects managed by a centralunit 103, which is optionally implemented on one or more web servers.Each multi participant session object may include instructions forgenerating an interactive user interface that is presented on thedisplay of a plurality of client terminals and receives inputs from theusers thereof, for example as described below. The interactive userinterfaces are optionally overlays, each with dynamic graphical userinterface (GUI), which are presented on top of media content that isbroadcasted over the internet and/or a communication network such as acable network and/or satellite services, provided as VOD content or astream over the internet and/or a communication network such as a cablenetwork and/or satellite services and/or locally recorded at one or moreclient terminals. For example, the multi participant session object mayallow generating a plurality of interactive window displays which arepresented on the screens of the client terminals 102. For example, FIGS.2A and 2B are exemplary overlays 222, 212 which are displayed overbroadcasted media content. In FIG. 2A the overlay is of an interactivewindow that presents options to the subscriber that participates in amulti participant session of a poll type and in FIG. 2B the overlaydepicts an outcome of such a poll 214, an indication of which subscribercurrently watches the media content 215, and a set if buttons forfacilitating calling a subscriber 216, receiving information about thesystem 217 and/or to initiate a new multi participant session 218.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, an interactivewindow display may be forwarded by the client terminal 102 to a screenof a remote controlling device, such as a designated remote controldevice and/or a cellular phone, such as a Smartphone that functions as acellular device, for example using a designated installed app. In suchan embodiment, the interactive window display may be displayed only onthe remote controlling device and/or both on the remote controllingdevice and on the screen of the client terminal 103. Optionally, whilesome interactive window displays are played on the screen of the remotecontrol, for example audio and/or video chats, others are displayed onthe screen which is connected to the client terminal and/or of theclient terminal, for example the current outcome of a poll and/or videofeeds of watching subscribers, for example as described below.

In an exemplary case, the remote controlling device communicates with aclient terminal 102, such as a set top box, over Wi-Fi or otherproprietary connection. The client terminal 102 is connected to andcontrols a TV set. The remote controlling device is connected to thecentral unit 103 through the client terminal 102. The client terminal102 controls a flow of content received from the central unit 103 andfrom other sources, such as IPTV, terrestrial broadcasts,satellite/cable broadcast and the like. The client terminal 103 mayroute certain content to the remote controlling device and other to theTV set. For example, content that is tagged as social is routed directlyto the client terminal 102. Notification may be routed to remotecontrolling device directly without popping out on the screen andinterfering with the media content that is being watched. Optionally,when a number of subscribers (viewers) watch the same media content onthe same TV set and logged to the system, each viewer is presented withrespective interactive windows so that they can participate in differentmulti participant sessions simultaneously, each using her remotecontrolling device. In such an embodiment, the remote controlling deviceof a user A may be used to communicate with the remote controllingdevice of user B through one or more client terminals in real timeinteractive manner.

Optionally, the system 100 includes a plurality of client modules 101which are installed in a plurality of client terminals 102. The clientmodule 101 may be implemented as a software component executed by thehosting client terminal 102, for example an application from an appstore, an add-on, and/or a standalone application and/or a hardwarecomponent that is installed in the hosting client terminal 102, forexample an integrated circuit (IC). The client terminal 102 may be aset-top-box (STB), which is connected to a screen, such as a television(TV) 109, an Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also known as a smartTV and/or Connected TV, and/or a computing unit, such as a laptop, adesktop, a Smartphone, a cellular device, a tablet and/or any otherdevice that can be used for providing internet TV service. Optionally,the client module 101 may establish a communication with the centralunit 103 using a proxy device, such as a cellular device thatcommunicates with the client terminal 101 and/or the like. In such amanner, the client module 101 may forward and/or receive data to and/orfrom the central unit 103 even when the client terminal is not connectedto the central unit 103. For example, if the client terminal 102 is aset top box which has low free bandwidth, say, a cellular connectionwith the central unit 103 may be established via a cellular device.

Optionally, the central unit 103 is connected to each one of the clientterminals 102 via a network 105, such as the Internet and/or an Ethernetand/or WLAN. In such an embodiment, the multi participant sessions aremanaged by the central unit 103. The display is optionally common in allthe client terminals 102 and/or adjusted according the subscriberspreferences in each client terminal and/or by the viewer which hasinitiated the multi participant session, for example as described below.As used herein, a subscriber is an identified viewer which is connectedto the system 100, for example logged on and/or otherwise monitored.

It should be noted that though in the description of this presentapplication the multi participant sessions may be managed and/orprocessed by a central unit, the management and/or the processing may beperformed by one or more of the client modules 101. For example, a multiparticipant session may be managed by the client module 101 which hasbeen used to initiate it. In such embodiments, the communication betweendifferent client modules 101 is performed over peer to peer connectionsand/or schemes.

Optionally, the central unit 103 includes and/or is connected to adatabase 104 that allows storing and updating information pertaining tothe multi participant sessions, for example as described below.

In use, subscribers log into the system 100 using their client terminals102, either manually or automatically. Optionally, the central unit 103monitors the logged subscribers to determine which one is currentlyavailable to participate in a multi participant session. Optionally, thecentral unit 103 manages a subscriber profile record per subscriber. Thesubscriber profile records are optionally stored in the database 104.The subscriber profile record may include a connected or not-connectedstatus indicator, a unique identification (ID), preferences, one or moresocial network IDs, a history log indicative of the subscriber'sparticipation in previously held multi participant sessions, a historylog indicative of multi participant sessions the subscriber initiated, ahistory log indicative of media content the subscriber may have watchedand/or the like.

Optionally, the client modules 101 monitor the media content that iswatched by the subscribers and forward the data to the central unit 103.For example, the content indications are provided via a push mechanism,such as cloud to device message (C2DM), by a pull mechanism wherein thecentral unit 103 polls information pertaining to the currently presentedmedia content, and/or by a notification mechanism wherein the clientmodule 101 sequentially notifies the central unit 103, for example everynumber of seconds and/or when the subscriber changes the presented mediacontent. In such a manner, as further described below, a subscriberwhich views a certain media content may receive information about othersubscribers, for example subscribers which are socially connectedthereto. The information may teach which subscriber currently watchesand/or have watched the certain media content. For example, FIG. 2Cdepicts an interactive window that presents information about whichmedia content is watched by friends and optionally their availability toparticipate in a multi participant session. This interactive windowoptionally allows the subscriber to select friends for a multiparticipant session. Optionally, each client module 101 communicateswith the central unit 103 to forward information about the media contentrespective subscriber currently watches and to receive and displaysimilar information about other subscribers. Optionally, the centralunit 103 is connected to a social network server. In such an embodiment,the system 100 may automatically update a status of the subscriber withan indication of the media content she is currently watches, for example“I am currently watch Dexter” a profile image of the subscriber with anicon of the media content she is currently watches, for example adds avisual tag of a show to the profile image, and/or issues a twit with themedia content he is currently watches, for example “I am currentlywatching Dexter”. In another example, the central unit 103 is connectedto the cellular service provider of the subscriber, providing it with anindication about the media content that is currently watched by thesubscriber. This allows the service provider to update accordingly thewaiting tone of the subscriber and/or any other dynamic content cellularservice.

Additionally or alternately, per subscriber, social connections areextracted from a social network that is managed by the system 100 and/orthird party social networks, such as Facebook™, Twitter™, Myspace™,and/or the like. Optionally, a social graph which may define the socialconnections among the subscribers is stored and managed in the database104, for example linked to the aforementioned subscriber profilerecords. In such a manner, each client module 101 may present to asubscriber which one of her friends is currently logged onto the system100, and optionally which media content they watch on their clientterminals 102. For example, the profile pictures of socially connectedsubscribers which are logged into the system 100 are presented on thedisplay of the client terminal 102 of the certain user, each optionallytogether with an icon indicative of watched media content. This icon maybe extracted from a visual electronic program guide (EPG) or fetched bythe client 102 from the central unit 103.

Optionally, a number of subscribers may be logged as viewers that sharea single client terminal 102, for example watch a movie and/or atelevision show together while being at the same room. In such anembodiment, as further described below, a GUI, such as an interactivewindow, of multi participant session object that is presented theretomay be adjusted according to a combined profile that is based oncharacteristics of all the viewers.

Optionally, a central unit 103 synchronizes the commonly watched mediacontent at all participants of a multi participant session. For example,the media content may be synchronized by distributing a reference, suchas an image for matching, a timeframe from a certain identifiable tag,and/or the like. In such a manner, a broadcast of certain media contentmay be synchronized with a respective VOD file and/or a recorded copythereof. The synchronizing may be performed by the client modules 101,optionally automatically and/or upon request from the respectiveparticipant.

Reference is also made to FIG. 3, which is a flowchart of a method 200of creating a multi participant session among a plurality of viewersthat watch common media content, according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. First, as shown at 201, a request to initiate amulti participant session for certain media content is sent from one ofthe client terminals 102 to the central unit 103. For example, arespective initiation comment is received from a subscriber, which maybe referred to herein as a session initiator, on a GUI that is displayedon the screen of one of the client terminals 102, such as an interactivewindow display. Optionally, the request is forwarded from the clientterminal 101 to the central unit 103.

Then, as shown at 202, templates of different multi participant sessiontypes are selected and presented to the session initiator. Optionally,as shown in FIG. 3, the plurality of templates are selected by thecentral unit 103 and forwarded to the session initiator. The templatesare optionally presented in a GUI that is displayed on the screen of theclient terminal 102.

Optionally, the templates are selected from a template dataset, whichmay be hosted by the database 104. For example, the templates areselected according to one or more of the following:

1. The identity and/or the number of the session initiator(s) which areidentified as viewers on the client terminal from which the request isreceived.

2. The identity of one or more friends of the session initiator(s),which are currently logged to the system 100 and available forparticipating in a multi participant session.

3. The number of session initiator(s) which are identified as viewers.

4. The genre of the media content that is currently watched, for examplewhether it is a movie, a contest, a sport game, a TV series, a realityshow and/or the like and/or Drama, Action, Horror, and/or the like.

5. The type of the media content that is currently watched by thesession initiator(s). For example, the type of the media content may bebroadcasted content, VOD content, and/or local storage content.

6. The airtime left for the media content.

As described above, a multi participant session may be of various multiparticipant session types, for example a poll, a chat with one or moresubscribers, a game, such as a board game and/or a role-play game, agambling mechanism, a riddle and/or a quiz, such as a trivia quiz. Eachtemplate may be adapted to a certain multi participant session type.

Optionally, the templates are adapted according to one or morecharacteristics of the media content that is commonly watched by theparticipants. For example, a base quiz template may be adjustedautomatically to fit a certain genre (i.e. open questions in adocumentary and closed question in a reality show) and/or to the airtimeleft for the media content (i.e. less questions if the airtime of themedia content is about to end soon). For example, as shown at FIG. 2D,the template is implemented as an interactive window that allows thesubscriber to select one or more questions for her multi participantsession, for example for a poll. The subscriber is presented with anumber of predefined questions, for example previously uploaded by oneof the subscribers and/or by the operator. Optionally, templates arecreated by the operator of the system 100, for example for promotionaluses and/or to fit contemporary trends. For example, before or duringthe finals of a reality show, a template that includes a poll pertainingto the finalists is added by the operator. Optionally, templates arecreated automatically by the system 100, for example according to atextual analysis of electronic program guides (EPGs), and/or the like.For example, when the last episode of a reality show is detectedaccording to textual analysis of an EPG, a template that includes a quizwith questions from previously created multi participant session objectsis automatically generated. In another example, the templates arecreated automatically according to a textual analysis of a media contentwebpage, such as a show website and/or a respective Facebook™ page.

Now, as shown at 204, the session initiator selects a template to createa multi participant session object, as shown at 205.

Optionally, as shown at 206, the multi participant session object isadjusted. Optionally, as shown at 207, the multi participant sessionobject is a content aware object that is adjusted according to the mediacontent which is currently watched and/or selected by the sessioninitiator and/or currently watched by subscribers which are sociallyconnected thereto, for example friends and/or followed peers in a socialnetwork, such as Facebook™, Twitter™ or the like. Optionally, as shownat 205, the multi participant session object is adjusted according tomedia content from several channels. For example, a multi participantsession object with a gambling mechanism may be updated according todata from a number of different channels that broadcast a number ofsport games held simultaneously.

Additionally or alternately, as shown at 208 and 209, the multiparticipant session object is adjusted according to the inputs of thesession initiator. For example, if the template is a template of a quiz,the multi participant session object may be adjusted by one or morequestions and optionally potential answers which are selected and/orprovided by the session initiator. In another example, if the multiparticipant session object is based on a template of a poll, the sessioninitiator may select and/or provide one or more questions andcandidates. In another example, if the multi participant session objectis based on a template of a Sport gamble (i.e. football, basketball,and/or soccer), the user (or the system 100, as described above) maycreate a social gamble on “who will win?” and/or “what will be thescore?” and optionally define few options for the session initiator toselect from. Then, a user can send it to invitees, for example some ofhis friends, with a time limit to vote. After the invitees have voted,an interactive window displays, during the game, which participant hasmost chances to win the bet and at the end of the game which participantwon, and optionally with statistic that combines previous outcomes. Inanother example, the multi participant session object is based on atemplate of a reality show. The user may add an option that allowsparticipants of a certain multi participant session to place bets on whowill win a certain mission, such as an immunity mission in The Survivor™style show, who will be dismissed from the reality show, who will getmost of the votes (i.e. the public's favorite in American idol) and/orwho will win the title in a beauty contest. Optionally, the sessioninitiator selects avatars and/or nicknames for the invitees. Optionally,each invitee may adjust the avatar and/or the nickname thereof.

As shown at 210, the session initiator selects a group from thesubscribers of the system 100, for instance from the subscriber profilerecords in the database 104, for participation in the multi participantsession. In such an embodiment, as shown at 211, the multi participantsession object may be according to the subscribers which are selected bythe session initiator. Optionally, in use, as described above, theclient module 101 generates a display which indicates to the sessioninitiator which of her friends is currently logged into the system 100and allows her to add any of these subscribers to the selected group.The central unit 204 receives one or more indicators pertaining to thesubscribers of the selected group and sends each member of the group aninvitation to watch the media content that is currently watched by theuser (i.e. if he does not already watches it) and an invitation toparticipate in the personalized interactive session.

Optionally, the multi participant session object is adjusted accordingto the selected subscribers. For example, the multi participant sessionobject is adjusted to fit the number of selected subscribers. In anotherexample, if the template is a template of a quiz, questions are selectedaccording to the multi participant session history or preferences ofeach subscriber, for example from his subscriber profile record (i.e.questions which previously presented thereto).

Optionally, the multi participant session object is adjusted accordingto selections of the selected subscribers and/or information pertainingthereto. In such an embodiment, teams may be built up according tosubscribers' preferences and/or selections. These teams can be managedby the multi participant session object, for example for determining awinning team in a quiz according to answers of its participants and/orthe like.

Optionally, as shown at 212, the created multi participant sessionobjects may be converted to new templates and stored in the database104. In such a manner, a session initiator may use multi participantsessions objects which were previously created by other sessioninitiators. This addition may be performed in real time, allowingsubscriber to share, with his friends, multi participant session objectswhich were recently created for a certain broadcast she currentlywatches, such as a live broadcast.

Now, as shown at 213, a multi participant session is established amongthe session initiator and a plurality of invited subscribers whoaccepted the invitations, which may be referred to herein as invitees.The multi participant session is optionally established when interactivewindows which display common content are generated, according to themulti participant session object, on the displays of client terminals ofthe invited subscribers. The interactive windows are optionallydisplayed as overlays on the display of the common media content.

As shown at 214, during the multi participant session, a plurality ofinputs from the session initiator and the plurality of invitedsubscribers are received. These inputs are used to update theinteractive multi participant session object, as shown at 214. Forexample, answers to a poll or a quiz are updated. In such embodiments,the subscriber may type a textual message and/or make a selection on hisclient terminal, for example by using an interactive window that ispresented thereto. The textual message and/or selection is forwarded tothe central unit 103 which updates, accordingly, the respectiveinteractive multi participant session object and the interactive windowswhich are presented to other participants. The inputs may be votes, forexample like/dislike indication pertaining to a show, a character, ateam, a participant, and/or the like.

Optionally, data from other multi participant session objects which arerelated to the watched content may be combined into the multiparticipant session object. For example, the overall rating of a certainfigure of a show may be calculated and presented. Statistics such as howmany of friends and/or subscribers voted and/or who voted may also bepresented on the interactive windows.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a sequence ofimages of each one of the participants of the multi participant session,for example a live video feed, is captured and presented to all otherparticipants. In such an embodiment, some or all of the client terminals101 comprise an imaging device, such as a camera or an image sensor.Optionally, the video feeds are processed as part of the multiparticipant session. For example, winning or losing image processingeffects may be added to video feeds of winning and/or losingparticipants and/or according to a combination of the participants'preferences and a progress in media content that is displayed to allparticipants. The progress in the media content is optionally identifiedby analyzing a textual content of a website that publishes informationpertaining to the media content, for example a sport website thatpublishes scores in real time. In another example, each participant isinstructed to perform a certain gesture, such as a wave gesture, andvideo feed is processed to identify the certain gesture. This allowscreating a mixture that presents some or all of the participantscreating a “crowd wave” together.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, promotionalcontent, which is adapted to a group of participants of a multiparticipant session, is presented during the multi participant session.As described above, a multi participant session object may allow a groupof subscribers to interact while watching common media content, forexample a chat multi participant session and/or the like. Thisinteraction is optionally performed using interactive windows which arepresented to participants. Optionally, promotional content that isadapted to the participants is presented in some or all of theinteractive windows and/or respective client terminals. For example, thepromotional content may be selected according characteristics of thegroup, for example an average age, gender, a geographic location and/oran analysis of any other characteristic thereof, for example based oninformation that is extracted from their social network profiles.Optionally, the promotional content includes group shopping coupon(s)and/or offer(s). For example, an offer to purchase a plurality of gymsubscriptions in a discounted rate, such as a gym subscription perparticipant, is offered to the participants. Optionally, the promotionalcontent is selected according to the commonly watched content. Forexample, basketball games subscription may be suggested in a discountedrate for all members in the group and/or a number of proximate sits fora sport game and/or a theater movie is suggested to the participants. Inanother example, a table in a restaurant may be offered to the group,for example for celebrating an outcome of a commonly watched game and/ora social event, such as a birthday of one of the participants.Optionally, the promotional content is arrived from an externaladvertisement (ad) server, such as 110 in FIG. 1.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the system 100,or a similar service, allows a subscriber, such as the sessioninitiator, to fund the right to watch media content together with forone or more remotely located subscribers, for example to purchase orsubsidize, optionally tentatively the right to access and use, forexample play, media content. This allows the subscriber to invite hisfriends to watch media content she paid or partly paid for, without anydebit or with a reduced debit. In these embodiments VOD objects mayactually be used as push objects which are sent to a subscriber and nota pull object that the access thereto is initiated by the subscriber. Inuse, the subscriber selects media content and uses the client module 102to send invitation(s) to one or more subscribers. The invitations areoptionally sent via the central unit 103, which instructs a respectivebilling mechanism, such as a billing server, to bill the subscriber whenthe invitees accept the invitations and/or access the media content. Insuch embodiments, the VOD service provider and/or the system 100 mayoffer subscribers with a special price for group watching. For example,a right to watch certain media content on a plurality of clientterminals, optionally simultaneously, or substantially simultaneously,may be offered in a discounted rate in relation to the purchase of aplurality of separate and independent rights to watch the certain mediacontent. Optionally, invitations to certain media content are sent withinvitations to participate in a multi participant session that isrelated to the certain media content. As described above, a multiparticipant session object may define a gamble or a contest amongparticipants. Optionally, the losing contestant(s) of the defined gambleor contest receive the automatically debited for the right for watchingmedia content together with for one or more remotely locatedsubscribers.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a participantof a multi participant session, such as a chat, for example audio and/orvideo chat, may initiate a sub multi participant session, for exampleanother audio and/or video chat, with a selected sub group of one ormore participants from the multi participant session. In such a manner,communication between sub groups may be held among a certain sub groupof participants without members of another sub group of the multiparticipant session, for example a complementary sub group. Optionally,such a sub multi participant session may be initiated using the GUI ofthe client module 102, for example using the interactive window of themulti participant session object. In such an embodiment, a participantof a multi participant session that is related to a football matchbetween team A and team B may establish a sub multi participant sessionwherein he can discuss with participants which cheer team A withoutletting participants which cheer team B to participate. The sub multiparticipant sessions are optionally held on separate media channelswhich are simultaneously managed by a proxy, for example the centralunit 103. Additionally or alternatively, sub multi participant sessionsare simultaneously established over P2P connections.

Optionally, a decoy video is displayed for participants of the multiparticipant session which are not participants of the sub multiparticipant session. The decoy video may be recorded and replayed aslong as the sub multi participant session is taking place. In such amanner, participants may communicate in a manner that does not allowother participants to notice.

Other aspects of the present disclosure, in some embodiments thereof,relate to interactive content and, more particularly, but notexclusively, to methods and systems of enriching interactive contentpresentation.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosurethere are provided methods and systems of dynamically selectinginteractive applications from a repository of interactive applicationswhich are available to a user, for example stored on a client terminal,based on the media content item that is currently watched by the user.

For example, one of the methods is implemented by automaticallyidentifying a media content item that is currently presented on a clientterminal, for example according to an EPG and/or information from themedia content source and automatically identifying one or more mediacontent characteristics of this media content, for example requestingthe information from a central unit that accesses a database of mediacontent records. This allows selecting a group of available interactiveapplications which are tagged as suitable for media content items thathave such media content characteristics and presenting the members ofthe group on a display in relation to the media content item.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosurethere are provided methods and systems of dynamically selectinginteractive applications which are suitable to a scene of a mediacontent that is presented to the user. In such an embodiment, recordsthat document scene characteristics may be used to match a group ofinteractive applications from a repository of interactive applicationswhich are available to a user, for example stored on a client terminal.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosurethere are provided methods and systems of dynamically selectinginteractive applications from a repository of interactive applicationswhich are available to a user, for example stored on a client terminal,based on current viewing pattern of a user.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the disclosure in detail,it is to be understood that the disclosure is not necessarily limited inits application to the details of construction and the arrangement ofthe components and/or methods set forth in the following descriptionand/or illustrated in the drawings and/or the Examples. The disclosureis capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out invarious ways.

Referring back now to FIG. 1, the system 100 may be used for dynamicallyselecting a group of interactive applications from a plurality ofinteractive applications which are made available to one or more user(s)of a client terminal, such as a customer premises equipment (CPE), forexample a set-top-box or an internet protocol television (IPTV), basedone or more characteristics of media content which currently presentedand/or selected to be presented to the user(s), according to someembodiments of the present disclosure. Such a system allows presentinguser(s) of a client terminal 102 with interactive applications which arerelevant to currently presented and/or selected media content andavoiding overwhelming these users with redundant interactiveapplications which are not suitable for the content media item.

The media content may be a broadcasted content, a video on demand (VOD)content, a locally stored content, a recorded content, and/or a stream,for example a movie, a TV show, promotional content, a series, and/orthe like. An interactive application may be any application designed toby presented before, after and/or in parallel to a media content item,including, but not limited to an internet app, a poll, a chat, a game, agambling mechanism, a data overlay that is adapted to the media contentitem, a data overlay that is adapted to another media content itemand/or a quiz. The interactive applications may be locally installed onthe client terminals and/or remotely installed on a network node, suchas a server and accessed via the network 105. An interactive applicationmay be implemented by an object, for example an app, which is downloadedto the hosting client terminal 102. This object may include instructionsfor generating an interactive user interface that is presented on thedisplay of the client terminal and receives inputs from the user(s)thereof. The interactive user interface is optionally an overlay with adynamic graphical user interface (GUI) that is presented in conjunctionwith of media content that is broadcasted over the internet and/or acommunication network such as a cable network and/or satellite services,provided as VOD content or a stream over the internet and/or acommunication network such as a cable network and/or satellite servicesand/or locally recorded at one or more client terminals.

Optionally, the system 100 includes a plurality of client modules 101which are installed in the client terminals 102. The client module 101may be implemented as a software component executed by the hostingclient terminal 102, for example an application from an app store, anadd-on, and/or a standalone application and/or a hardware component thatis installed in the hosting client terminal 102, for example anintegrated circuit (IC). The client terminal 102 may be a set-top-box(STB), which is connected to a screen, such as a television (TV) 109, anIPTV, also known as a smart TV and/or a connected TV, and/or a computingunit, such as a laptop, a desktop, a Smartphone, a cellular device, atablet and/or any other device that can be used for providing internetTV service. Optionally, the client module 101 may establish acommunication with the central unit 103 using a proxy device, such as acellular device that communicates with the client terminal 102 and/orthe like. In such a manner, the client module 101 may forward to and/orreceive data from the central unit 103 even when the client terminal isnot connected to the central unit 103. For example, if the clientterminal 102 is a set top box which has low free bandwidth, a cellularconnection with the central unit 103 may be established via a cellulardevice. Optionally, the central unit 103 is connected to each one of theclient terminals 102 via a network 105, such as the Internet and/or anEthernet and/or WLAN.

Optionally, the central unit 103 includes and/or connected to a database104 that allows storing a plurality of media content records, eachhaving a media content identification (ID) and a plurality of mediacontent characteristics which are indicative of a genre, a length, arating, an age rating, a language, an origin country, a productionsource, a production date, indirect advertising content and/or the like.

As further described below, the media content records allow the centralunit 103, for example a matching module, to reply to requests for mediacontent characteristics where each request is indicative of a certainmedia content with plurality of media content characteristics, forexample as described below.

Optionally, each client module 101 is set to monitor the media contentthat is watched by a user in run time and forwards a request for mediacontent characteristics with the ID of the currently watched mediacontent item and/or the selected media content item to the central unit.For example, the characteristics request is sent via a push mechanism,such as cloud to device message (C2DM), by a pull mechanism wherein thecentral unit 103 polls information pertaining to the currently presentedand/or selected media content, and/or by a notification mechanismwherein the client module 101 sequentially notifies the central unit103, for example every number of seconds and/or when the subscriberchanges the presented media content. In such a manner, as furtherdescribed below, a client terminal of a user which views certain mediacontent may receive a response indicative of media contentcharacteristics of the certain media content.

Optionally, the central unit 103 includes an updating module whichmanages one or more web crawlers for updating existing plurality ofmedia content records and/or adding new plurality of media contentrecords, for example based on an analysis of electronic program guides(EPGs). In such an embodiment, the system 100 may automatically recordthe date each media content record was last updated. Optionally, thecentral unit 103 allows user to update and/or add media content records,for example using a user interface that is presented thereto, forexample via a interactive application that is hosted by the clientterminal and/or accessed thereto.

Reference is also made to FIG. 4, which is a flowchart of a method 400of selecting and/or filtering interactive applications from a pluralityof interactive applications which are available to a user and/or aclient terminal, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

As shown at 402, the client module 101 identifies, optionallyautomatically, a media content item that is currently presented and/orselected to be presented on the hosting client terminal 102. As usedherein, a selected to be presented media content item may be an orderedmedia content item, a recorded media content item, and/or the like. Themedia content item is optionally received from a signal source such asan Ethernet cable, a satellite dish, a coaxial cable (see cabletelevision), a telephone line including digital subscriber line (DSL)connections, broadband over power line, or even an ordinary very highfrequency (VHF) or ultrahigh frequency (UHF) antenna. The media contentitem may be a video on demand item that is played on the clientterminal, a file played from a memory and/or a stream received from aportal. Content, in this context, could mean any or all of video, audio,Internet webpages, interactive games, or other possibilities. Theidentification may be performed by analyzing the stream, the file,and/or the broadcast that includes the media content item, for instanceby decoding a data channel and/or the like. Optionally, identificationmay be performed by detecting the broadcast source of the media content,for example the identification of the broadcasted channel, andidentifying the media content that is currently broadcasted by analyzingone or more electronic program guides (EPG) in light of the currenttime. Optionally, identification may be performed by acquiring a realtime data from a server in a cloud pertaining to media content, such asbroadcasted content, IPTV, local files, VOD files, and/or the like. Thecloud server optionally notifies that the client terminal whichapplication(s) to choose and present. The client module 101 optionallyallows one or more available applications to receive push notificationswhich are distributed with certain media content or media content typeand to be launched when the system recognizes that such media content iscurrently been broadcasted.

As further described below, the decision of which applications tolaunch, show, and/or expose is not only based on the content but alsobased on the characteristics of the user who is currently watching themedia content and/or friends which are currently watching the same mediacontent. For example, if the subscriber watches a football match alone,she can get one type of applications and if the subscriber watches itwith my friends a different set of applications is received.

This allows identifying one or more media content characteristics of theselected and/or currently played media content item. Optionally, asshown at 403, the client module 101 sends an identifier of the mediacontent item as a request and/or a query to receive from the centralunit 103 the content media content characteristics thereof. Additionallyor alternatively, the client module 101 sends a general request for thecontent media content characteristics of the selected and/or currentlyplayed media content item, without having information about the selectedand/or currently played media content item. In such an embodiment, theinformation may be gathered from a third party, for example, a contentprovider, such as a VOD server, based on the identity of the clientterminal 102, for example its internet protocol (IP) address.

The central unit 103, optionally as shown at 404, reviews the database104 to identify a media content record of the selected and/or currentlywatched media content based on the identifier. As shown at 405, at leastthe media content characteristics from the media content record are nowforwarded to the client module 101 as a response to the request.

As shown at 406, the client module 101 manages and/or accesses a datasetwhich includes entries and/or records indicative of a plurality ofinteractive applications available for presentation on a respectivehosting client terminal 102. An available interactive application isoptionally an application available for use by user(s) of the clientterminal 102 without a registration process and/or an installationprocess. For instance, the interactive applications dataset lists theinteractive applications which have been purchased, downloaded, and/orselected by the user and/or have been licensed to the user. Additionallyor alternatively, the interactive applications dataset lists theinteractive applications which are available for purchase by the user(s)of the client terminal 102. Additionally or alternatively, theinteractive applications dataset lists the interactive applicationswhich have been downloaded to, installed on and/or otherwise associatedwith the client terminal 102. The records and/or entries of theinteractive applications dataset may be provided to the client module101 upon demand and/or accessed by a pull request. Additionally oralternatively, the interactive applications dataset lists theinteractive applications which are selected to the user(s) of the clientterminal 102 based on one or more characteristics thereof, for exampledemographic data, user identifier, usage history and statisticalanalysis.

Optionally, each record and/or entry, for brevity referred to herein asan interactive application record, documents one or more suitable mediacontent characteristics of a respective interactive application. Thesuitable media content characteristics are indicative of properties ofmedia content items to which the respective interactive application issuitable and/or not suitable, for example a genre, a length, a rating,an age rating, a language, an origin country, a production source, aproduction date, and/or the like. For example, the suitable mediacontent characteristics of a sport gambling interactive application maybe a genre=sport, a length=any, a rating=10/10, an age rating=18<, alanguage=English, an origin country=USA, and/or a productionsource=ESPN/NBC sports/FOX sports. In another example, the suitablemedia content characteristics of a trivia interactive application may bea genre=documentary, a length=any, an age rating=12<, and/or an origincountry=any.

The suitable media content characteristics of the records in theinteractive applications dataset and the media content characteristicsof the selected and/or currently watched media content may be matched bythe client module 101 to identify a group of interactive applicationswhich are suitable for the selected and/or currently presented mediacontent, as shown at 407. Each one of the suitable media contentcharacteristics and/or the media content characteristics may beweighted. For example, the client module 101 matches between the mediacontent characteristics from the respective media content record and thesuitable media content characteristics of the interactive applicationsdocumented in the interactive application records. The group is eitherfiltered from the interactive applications dataset and/or selectedaccordingly.

Optionally, the media content characteristics from the respective mediacontent record is matched with the suitable media contentcharacteristics of interactive applications from an app store 110. Thisallows presenting to the user with interactive applications which aresuitable for the media content she is currently watching.

As shown at 408, indication of the members of the group is now presentedon a display of the client terminal. For example, icons of theinteractive application are presented to the user. Optionally, one ormore members of the groups are automatically launched to be presentedwith the selected and/or currently presented media content and/or addedto a dynamic menu.

The process depicted in 401-408 is optionally continuously repeatedwhenever the user changes the media content items she watches. In such amanner, interactive applications, which are presented to the user, aredynamically adapt to the media content he consumes. For example, sportrelated interactive applications may be replaced with current mattersinteractive applications when the user switches from watching a soccergame to watching the news.

Optionally, the media content records and/or the interactive applicationrecords are updated by the operator of the system 100.

Additionally or alternatively, the media content records and/or theinteractive application records are updated automatically by an updatingmodule of the system 100. Such an updating may be performed usingcrawlers which crawl in interactive application data pages presented inrecords of EPG(s) and/or app store(s) and a semantic analysis modulewhich analyzes the crawled content to extract media contentcharacteristics and/or suitable media content characteristics in anautomatic manner. Additionally or alternatively, the media contentrecords and/or the interactive application records are updated by usersof the system 100, for example via a graphical user interface that isavailable via the client terminals 102. The updating may be performedusing window(s) that allow the user to input manually the media contentcharacteristics and/or the suitable media content characteristics.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, media contentitems and/or interactive applications are tagged with one or more mediacontent characteristics and/or suitable media content characteristics.In such an embodiment, the media content items and/or interactiveapplications are set with a metadata field that can be used for matchingtherebetween. For example, each one of the media content item filesand/or interactive application modules may include a record with therespective metadata. This allows a client module to select and/or filtera group of interactive applications without using the central unit 103and/or other network entities. Optionally, the software development kit(SDK) of the interactive applications allows developers to set suitablemedia content characteristics therefore.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, media contentitems are directly associated with interactive applications and/or viceversa. In such embodiments, an application developer can register herapplications for a specific media content item, for example abroadcasted show, for example by specifying EPG name and/or time and/ordate and the system 100. In such an embodiment, the media content recordof the media content item includes identifier(s) of one or moreinteractive applications. This allows the client module 101 to add therespective interactive applications to the selected group when therespective media content item is presented or about to be presented onthe client terminal 102. Alternatively, the interactive applicationrecords includes a media content item identifier that may be matchedwith the identifier of the selected and/or currently presented mediacontent to determine whether the client module 101 has to add therespective interactive application to the selected group. In such anembodiment, interactive application which are designated for a certainshow may be selected automatically when the show is aired or about tothe aired.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, interactiveapplications are selected to be suggested to the user according tofriends of the user which also watch the currently presented mediacontent item and/or about to watch the currently presented media contentitem. For example, a chat application may be automatically launchedand/or added to the interactive application suggested to the user if oneor more of her friends currently watch the same content. Optionally, theinteractive applications are commercial applications which contain acommercial content.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, interactiveapplications are selected to be suggested to the user according mediacontent characteristics which are acquired from external sources, suchas a clock, an EPG, a web page which includes media content itemsdescription, a media center system and/or the like.

Reference is now also made to FIG. 5, which is a method of dynamicallyselecting one or more of the interactive applications which are madeavailable to user(s) of a client terminal based one or morecharacteristics of a media content scene which currently and/or selectedto be presented to the user(s), according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Block 406 is optionally as described above; however,blocks 302-305 describe operations for providing a user with anexperience wherein the interactive applications which are suggestedthereto and/or automatically launched are dynamically changed accordingto characteristics of the scene that is currently presented thereto.

As shown at 302, the scene is identified. For example, theidentification may be according to the time elapsed since the mediacontent has been aired and/or played. Additionally or alternatively, theidentification may be according to the tags which are added to the mediacontent item. Now, as shown at 303, one or more scene characteristics ofthe identified scene are identified. A scene characteristic may be thescene timing, for example, an opening scene a closing scene and/or thelike, a rating, an age rating, a language, a visual content relatedcharacteristic, for example related to objects depicted or not depictedin the scene, an audible content related characteristic, for exampledefine whether a monolog, dialog and/or a background music are played,and/or the like. Optionally, in order to facilitate the acquiring ofscene characteristics, each of the aforementioned media content recordsdefines one or more scene characteristics per scene. This informationmay be acquired by a request sent to the central unit 103, for exampleas described above and/or according to tags which are added to the mediacontent.

Now, as shown at 304, the scene characteristics of the currentlypresented scene are matched with the suitable media contentcharacteristics of the interactive applications. Then, the one or morematched interactive applications are automatically presented to theuser, for example launched and/or added to a dynamic menu as describedabove. Optionally, the process depicted in blocks 302-305 is repeatedfor all the scenes of the media content item. This allows a dynamicadaption of the interactive applications which are suggested to the userper scene.

Reference is now also made to FIG. 6, which is a method of dynamicallyselecting one or more of the interactive applications which are madeavailable to user(s) of a client terminal based on current viewingpattern characteristics, according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Blocks 406 and 408 are optionally as described above;however, new blocks 601-602 describe operations for providing a userwith an experience wherein his viewing patterns effect the interactiveapplications which are suggested thereto and/or automatically launchedto be presented thereto. In such an embodiment, the client module 101monitors the viewing habits of the user. For example, the client module101 identifies any of the following viewing patterns:

-   1. The period the user watches a media content item. This    information may be gathered by monitoring the content that is    displayed on or via the client terminal and/or by querying a    respective display unit.-   2. The media content item(s) the user watched before the currently    presented media content item, for example during the last hour. This    information may be gathered by monitoring the content that is    displayed on or via the client terminal and/or by querying a    respective display unit.-   3. The frequency of recent zapping of the user, for example the    zapping frequency in last minutes, for example the last 5, 10, 15,    and/or 30 minutes or any intermediate length. This information may    be gathered by monitoring the content that is displayed on or via    the client terminal and/or by querying a respective display unit.-   4. The volume level at which the media content item(s) are played.    This information may be gathered by querying or monitoring a    respective display unit.-   5. The display setting at which the media content item(s) are    played. This information may be gathered by querying or monitoring a    respective display unit.-   6. The time of the day and/or the year, the day in the week. This    information may be acquired from an integral and/or external clock    module.

In order to select interactive applications, which are adapted to thecurrent viewing pattern of the user, each interactive application istagged with suitable viewing pattern characteristics. Thesecharacteristics may be indicative of a suitable range of periods and/orsuitable range of zapping frequencies and/or one or more suitable mediacontent characteristics for matching with the characteristics of themedia content item(s) the user watched before the currently presentedmedia content item. This allows, as shown at 602, matching between thecurrent viewing pattern and a group of the interactive applications.Optionally, this group of the interactive applications is added to groupof interactive applications that is identified according to the mediacontent characteristics, for example as described above. Optionally,some members of this group and the group of interactive applicationswhich is identified according to the media content characteristics areselected according to a relative suitability which may be determinedbased on weights which are given to different media content and/orviewing pattern characteristics.

Still further aspects of the present disclosure, in some embodimentsthereof, relate to visual communication and, more particularly, but notexclusively, to methods and systems for establishing multi participantvideo chat.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there areprovided methods and systems for establishing a multi participant videosession between participants where a video sequence of each one of themis captured in real time and is ready to be transmitted to otherparticipants. In these embodiments, the actual presence of theparticipant in an imaged space is verified and/or a manual indication isrequired. For example, the method delays the initiation of the multiparticipant video session until presence indications are acquired fromall participants.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there areprovided methods and systems for managing a multi participant videosession between participants based on their level of participation inthe multi participant video session. In such embodiment, a multiparticipant video session may be halt and/or terminated, when the levelof participation of one of the participants decreases below a certainminimum. Optionally, the level of participation, the halting, and/orterminating, may be determined and/or adjusted according to socialconnections among the participants, characteristics of one of more ofthe participants and/or the media content that is currently watched bythe participants. For brevity, halting and terminating may be referredto herein interchangeably.

Systems according to the present disclosure may be implemented by acentral unit which manages the multi participant video session(s) and/ora plurality of client modules which are installed in camera enhancedclient terminals, optionally as described below.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the disclosure in detail,it is to be understood that the disclosure is not necessarily limited inits application to the details of construction and the arrangement ofthe components and/or methods set forth in the following descriptionand/or illustrated in the drawings and/or the Examples. The disclosureis capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out invarious ways.

Reference is now made to FIG. 7, which is a schematic illustration of asystem 700 for establishing and/or managing a plurality of multiparticipant video sessions each among participants who use cameraenhanced remote client terminals 702 which are connected to a network705 based on participation level of each one of the participants in themulti participant video session, according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The participation level may be evaluated by ananalysis of activity in the imaged spaces, for example in front of thecamera enhanced remote client terminals 702 and/or by detecting thepresence of the participants in these spaces and/or the absence of theparticipants from these spaces. The multi participant video session maybe any communication between participants in real-time which involvesthe reception and/or transmission of video depicting the participants atdifferent locations and optionally audio signals of the voice of theparticipants, for example a video chat, video telephony, and/or thelike.

The multi participant video sessions, as further described below, may beimplemented and/or managed by a central unit 703, which is optionallyimplemented on one or more web servers and/or a plurality of clientmodules 701 which are installed on the client terminals 702. During themulti participant video session, a user interface, such as a dynamicgraphical user interface (GUI), is presented to each one of theparticipants, optionally on top of media content that is presented onthe display of the respective client terminal.

It should be noted that though in the specification of this presentapplication the multi participant video sessions are described asmanaged and/or processed by the central unit 703, the management and/orthe processing may be performed by one or more of the client modules701. For example, a multi participant video session is managed by theclient module 701 which has been used to initiate it. In suchembodiments, the communication between different client modules 701 maybe performed over peer to peer connections and/or schemes.

The client module 701 may be implemented as a software componentexecuted by the hosting client terminal 702, for example an applicationfrom an app store, an add-on, and/or a standalone application and/or ahardware component that is installed in the hosting client terminal 702,for example an integrated circuit (IC). The client terminal 702 may be aset-top-box (STB), which is connected to a screen, such as a television(TV) 709, an Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also known as a smartTV and/or Connected TV, and/or a computing unit, such as a laptop, adesktop, a Smartphone, a cellular device, a tablet and/or any otherdevice that can be used for providing internet TV service.

Optionally, the central unit 703 is connected to the client modules 701in each one of the client terminals 702 via the network 705, such as theInternet and/or an Ethernet and/or WLAN. In such an embodiment, themulti participant video session is managed by the central unit 703.Optionally, the central unit 703 includes and/or connected to a database704 that allows storing and updating information pertaining to the multiparticipant video sessions.

Reference is now also made to FIG. 8 which is a flowchart 800 of amethod for establishing a multi participant video session, according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure. The method is optionallyimplemented by an entity managing the multi participant video session,for example one of the client terminals 702 or the central unit 703.

First, as shown at 801, a request to establish a multi participant videosession between participants via camera enabled client terminals whichare connected to the network 705 is received 705. As used herein, cameraenabled client terminal is a client terminal connected to and/orintegrated with a camera, for example any imaging device, for example acomplementary metal oxide semiconductor CMOS based sensor, a chargecoupled device (CCD) based sensor, an internet camera, and/or anintegrated camera or an image sensor of a client terminal. The requestmay be an outcome of a user selection, for example a user which clickson an icon indicative of a multi participant video session and/or one ormore requested participants from a list that is presented on the displayof his camera enabled client terminal 702. The requests are optionallyreceived via the network 705 from the client modules 701. Each requestmay define the identity of the participants who should participate inthe established multi participant video session. Optionally, as shown at802, one or more messages which include a request to join the multiparticipant video session are forwarded to the camera enabled clientterminals of the requested participants, for example as networkmessages.

Now, as shown at 803, the initiation of the multi participant videosession is delayed until a presence indication and/or a participationlevel indication indicative of a presence of one of the participants inan imaged space, for example in front of a camera enabled clientterminal is received from each one of the camera enabled clientterminals to which a request has been sent.

The presence indication and/or the participation level indication areoptionally received from the client module 701. Optionally, theforwarding of the indication to a managing entity, such as the centralunit 703, is performed in response to a user selection, for example inresponse to a user clicking on a button indicative of accepting arequest to join a multi participant video session.

Optionally, the forwarding of the presence indication to the managingentity is performed in response to an automatic detection of a presenceof a participant in front of the camera of the respective camera enabledclient terminal 702. For example, each client module 701, which receivesa request to join a multi participant video session, captures a sequenceof images using the respective camera and processes the image to detectthe presence of the requested participant or any other potentialparticipant in front of the camera enabled client terminal 702 and/or inany other imaged space. For example, a face detection algorithm is usedto detect a face in front of the camera enabled client terminal 702, forexample see Yao-Jiunn Chen, Simple Face-detection Algorithm Based onMinimum Facial Features, the 33rd Annual Conference of the IEEEIndustrial Electronics Society (IECON) Nov. 5-8, 2007, Taipei, Taiwan,which is incorporated herein by reference. In another embodiment, thepresence of the face of a particular requested participant in thecaptured image sequence is detected. For example, a face recognitionalgorithm is used to determine whether the face of the requestedparticipant is in an imaged space, for example in front of the cameraenabled client terminal 702 or not. In such an embodiment, datapertaining to facial features of the participant and/or a referenceimage thereof are stored, optionally on the respective client terminal,and/or sent with the request, to allow identifying that the face in theimage sequence are of the requested participant. For example, see H.Schneiderman, T. Kanade. “A Statistical Method for 3D Object DetectionApplied to Faces and Cars”, IEEE Conference on Computer Vision andPattern Recognition (CVPR 2000) and Paul Viola, et. al., RobustReal-Time Face Detection, International Journal of Computer Vision57(2), 137-154, 2004, which are incorporated herein by reference.

Now, as shown at 804, a multi participant video session is establishedbetween the requested participants via the camera enabled clientterminals after presence indications are received from all the requestedparticipants. In such a manner, none of the participants is imagedwithout giving his consent to participate in the multi participant videosession. When the multi participant video session is established, avideo sequence captured by each one of the camera enabled clientterminals is forwarded to be presented on displays of some or all of theother camera enabled client terminals which are used for the multiparticipant video session. This video sequence is not displayed when themulti participant video session is delayed. As the multi participantvideo session is established only when all the participants are actuallypresent in imaged spaces, for example in front of the camera enabledclient terminals and therefore imaged, the method assures reciprocalexposure among the participants. That is to say that a first participantmay be displayed with a live image of a second participant if and onlyif the second participant sees the first participant.

Reference is now also made to FIG. 9 which is a flowchart 900 of amethod for managing a multi participant video session, according to someembodiments of the present disclosure. After a multi participant videosession is established, for example as described in FIG. 8 and depictedin 901, participation and/or participation level of some or all of theparticipants is monitored during multi participant video session, asshown at 902. It should be noted that participation may be considered aspresence in an image space, such as the space in front of the cameraenhanced client terminal, a presence with a certain level of activity,for example a level of movement and/or the frequency of speechdetection, and/or a period of presence with an active rule in the multiparticipant video session. Optionally, the level of participation thatis required from each participant may be defined by him, for exampleusing a GUI that is presented thereto. For example, the participationmay be set according to the level of privacy of the participant. A highlevel of privacy may require active participation in the multiparticipant video session and a low level of privacy may requirepresence only.

The monitoring of participation or a participation level of aparticipant is optionally performed by analyzing an image sequence thatis captured by the respective camera enhanced client terminal. In suchembodiments, the respective client module 702 may perform an imageprocessing analysis, for example based on any of the face detectionand/or recognition algorithms which are described above. The detectionand/or recognition of a face gazing at a display of the respectivecamera enhanced client terminal is indicative that a person is currentlyviewing the image that is presented thereto, namely an image of one ormore participants of the multi participant video session. This may beconsidered as an active participation in the multi participant videosession. Optionally, if the eyes of the imaged face are closed and/or ifthe person that not look at the display for a certain period, anindication of luck of participation is received. As further describedbelow, this may lead to the termination of the multi participant videosession or the participation of the respective participant in the multiparticipant video session.

Additionally or alternatively, the participation of each participant isoptionally monitored by analyzing an audio sequence that is captured bythe camera enhanced client terminal 702. For example, a speech analysisis made to detect whether the participant talks during the multiparticipant video session. The speech analysis is optionally continuousalong the monitoring period so as to determine whether the participanttakes an active part in the multi participant video session or not.Optionally, speech patterns are analyzed to determine if the participanttalks with person(s) who do not take part in the multi participant videosession. Such speech patterns are optionally indicative that theparticipant does not participate actively in the multi participant videosession.

The participation monitoring allows detecting breaks in theparticipation of participants of the multi participant video session,for example as shown at 903. For example, a break of more than a certainperiod, for example 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes or any intermediateor longer period is detected according to an analysis of video and/oraudio sequences. The break is detected when no participation or sparseparticipation is identified during a certain period. As used herein, asparse participation means a detection of a participation for less thana minimal period, for example a participation for an interval of lessthan 1 minute, optionally during a monitoring period of more than acertain interval, for example more than 10 minutes.

As shown at 904, when a break is detected, the multi participant videosession or the participation of the respective participant in the multiparticipant video session may be automatically terminated or anotification pertaining to the multi participant video session may besent to the respective participant(s). For example, the sentnotification is presented on the display and facilitates the participantto select whether she wants to participate with the multi participantvideo session or not. Optionally, if not answer is received, the multiparticipant video session or the participation of the participant isterminated. In another example, the multi participant video session isautomatically put on hold, requesting some or all of the participants toreauthorize the resuming thereof. If no break is detected, the multiparticipant video session continues until it ends by one or all of theparticipants.

As the multi participant video session is terminated and/or put on holdwhen one or more of the participants do not take active part in theparticipation, the method reduces the timeslot during which a certainparticipant may be exposed to images of a another participant which aretaken when the other participant did not notice.

Optionally, the management of the multi participant video session isdetermined according to the classification of the participants. In suchan embodiment, social connections among participants may be extractedfrom a social network and/or a database mapping social connections amonga plurality of users, such as subscribers. For example, if not all theparticipants are socially connected, the multi participant video sessionmay be terminated automatically after a break of one minute; however, ifall the participants are socially connected, a notification asking a nonactive participant to confirm his will to participate in the multiparticipant video session is displayed. Participants may also beclassified according to one or more characteristics thereof, for exampledemographic characteristics which are taken from the participants'profiles.

As described above, the camera enhanced client terminal is optionally atelevision, an IPTV, a set-top-box or any other devices that is set todisplay media content in parallel to the conducting of the multiparticipant video session. Optionally, the management of the multiparticipant video session is determined according to which media contentis currently presented on a display of the camera enhanced clientterminals of the participants. This media content may be broadcasted,streamed and/or locally stored on the client terminal or on a databasewhich is accessed by it. For example, if the media content, which isdisplayed on the client terminals 702 of the participants, is of acertain type, such as a football match, then the break period whichinduces a termination of the multi participant video session isincreased, for example from a default of 5 min to 15 min. In anotherexample, the multi participant video session is put on hold when theuser zaps from one channel to another, pauses the content media, and/orotherwise performs an action which indicates that the content she iswatching is not synchronized with the content other participants arewatching.

It is expected that during the life of a patent maturing from thisapplication many relevant methods and systems will be developed and thescope of the term a client terminal, a central unit, a network and amessage is intended to include all such new technologies a priori.

As used herein the term “about” refers to ±10%.

The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “includes”, “including”, “having”and their conjugates mean “including but not limited to”. This termencompasses the terms “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”.

The phrase “consisting essentially of” means that the composition ormethod may include additional ingredients and/or steps, but only if theadditional ingredients and/or steps do not materially alter the basicand novel characteristics of the claimed composition or method.

As used herein, the singular form “a”, “an” and “the” include pluralreferences unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. For example,the term “a compound” or “at least one compound” may include a pluralityof compounds, including mixtures thereof.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example,instance or illustration”. Any embodiment described as “exemplary” isnot necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otherembodiments and/or to exclude the incorporation of features from otherembodiments.

The word “optionally” is used herein to mean “is provided in someembodiments and not provided in other embodiments”. Any particularembodiment of the disclosure may include a plurality of “optional”features unless such features conflict.

Throughout this application, various embodiments of this disclosure maybe presented in a range format. It should be understood that thedescription in range format is merely for convenience and brevity andshould not be construed as an inflexible limitation on the scope of thedisclosure. Accordingly, the description of a range should be consideredto have specifically disclosed all the possible subranges as well asindividual numerical values within that range. For example, descriptionof a range such as from 1 to 6 should be considered to have specificallydisclosed subranges such as from 1 to 3, from 1 to 4, from 1 to 5, from2 to 4, from 2 to 6, from 3 to 6 etc., as well as individual numberswithin that range, for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This appliesregardless of the breadth of the range.

Whenever a numerical range is indicated herein, it is meant to includeany cited numeral (fractional or integral) within the indicated range.The phrases “ranging/ranges between” a first indicate number and asecond indicate number and “ranging/ranges from” a first indicate number“to” a second indicate number are used herein interchangeably and aremeant to include the first and second indicated numbers and all thefractional and integral numerals therebetween.

It is appreciated that certain features of the disclosure, which are,for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may alsobe provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures of the disclosure, which are, for brevity, described in thecontext of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or inany suitable subcombination or as suitable in any other describedembodiment of the disclosure. Certain features described in the contextof various embodiments are not to be considered essential features ofthose embodiments, unless the embodiment is inoperative without thoseelements.

Although the disclosure has been described in conjunction with specificembodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modificationsand variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives,modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scopeof the appended claims.

All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in thisspecification are herein incorporated in their entirety by referenceinto the specification, to the same extent as if each individualpublication, patent or patent application was specifically andindividually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference. Inaddition, citation or identification of any reference in thisapplication shall not be construed as an admission that such referenceis available as prior art to the present disclosure. To the extent thatsection headings are used, they should not be construed as necessarilylimiting.

1-81. (canceled)
 82. A method of establishing a multi-participantsession among a plurality of participants, comprising: identifying agroup of subscribers that are available for invitation to amulti-participant session by a first subscriber; receiving, from saidfirst subscriber, a selection of a first sub-group of subscribers fromsaid group of subscribers; receiving, from said first subscriber, aselection of a second sub-group of subscribers from said group ofsubscribers, wherein said second sub-group is different from said firstsub-group; establishing a first multi-participant session among saidfirst subscriber and members of said first sub-group; and establishing asecond multi-participant session among said first subscriber and membersof said second sub-group, wherein for at least one point in time saidfirst multi-participant session and said second multi-participantsession are simultaneously active.
 83. The method of claim 82 whereinsaid subscribers of said first sub-group are socially connected.
 84. Themethod of claim 82 wherein said subscribers of said second sub-group aresocially connected.
 85. The method of claim 82, further comprisingpresenting on a client terminal of said first subscriber a userinterface for receiving said selection from said first subscriber atsaid client terminal.
 86. The method of claim 82, further comprisingidentifying said group of subscribers according to social connections.87. A computer readable medium comprising computer executableinstructions adapted to perform the method of claim
 82. 88. A system forestablishing a multi-participant session among a plurality ofparticipants, comprising: a plurality of client terminals of a pluralityof subscribers that are configured to identify a group of saidsubscribers that are available for invitation to a multi-participantsession by a first subscriber of said subscribers; wherein one of saidplurality of client terminals is used by said first subscriber and isconfigured to: receive, from said first subscriber, a selection of afirst sub-group of subscribers from said group of subscribers; andreceive, from said first subscriber, a selection of a second sub-groupof subscribers from said group of subscribers, wherein said secondsub-group is different from said first sub-group; and a central unitthat is configured to: establish a first multi-participant session amongsaid first subscriber and members of said first sub-group; and establisha second multi-participant session among said first subscriber andmembers of said second sub-group, wherein for at least one point in timesaid first multi-participant session and said second multi-participantsession are simultaneously active.
 89. A computer program product forestablishing a multi-participant session among a plurality ofparticipants, said computer program product comprising: a computerreadable storage medium having stored thereon: first programinstructions executable by a first client terminal of a plurality ofclient terminals of a plurality of subscribers to cause said firstclient terminal to identify a group of said subscribers that areavailable for invitation to a multi-participant session by a firstsubscriber of said subscribers; second program instructions executableby said first client terminal to cause said first client terminal toreceive, from said first subscriber, a selection of a first sub-group ofsubscribers from said group of subscribers; third program instructionsexecutable by said first client terminal to cause said first clientterminal to receive, from said first subscriber, a selection of a secondsub-group of subscribers from said group of subscribers, wherein saidsecond sub-group is different from said first sub-group; fourth programinstructions executable by a central unit to cause said central unit toestablish a first multi-participant session among said first subscriberand members of said first sub-group; and fifth program instructionsexecutable by said central unit to cause said central unit to establisha second multi-participant session among said first subscriber andmembers of said second sub-group, wherein for at least one point in timesaid first multi-participant session and said second multi-participantsession are simultaneously active.